Chapter 16: 16

Outside the room, Mu Tuo and the others were already waiting at the table.

“How about it? Did you find any useful information?” He Qin pulled out a chair and first let Wen Zheliu sit down, while he himself sat on one side, circling the back of the chair with his arm.

Gao Xinghan replied: “I found something, but I don’t know if it will be useful.”

Zhou Qing was fiddling with her ponytail and said in a separate conversation: “We’ve found a very important clue this time!”

Wen Zheliu looked around and knew in his heart that the dozen or so people had split into several small groups: Mu Tuo, Zhou Qing, and Zhou Yao group; Gao Xinghan, Bai Hao, Xiong Lin, and Ke Wenyan group; he and He Qin group; Du Zijun kept to herself and doesn’t make friends with anyone, so he er, she is also counted as one group for the time being.

He counted and suddenly realized something was wrong.

It seems… there is one person missing?

His gaze swept around the crowd carefully, and only then did he find a boy in the corner with his head down and not talking.

This person… Ah, has he spoken to the team before? Why didn’t he have any memory of it?

Wait a minute, what does he even look like…

Wen Zheliu thought hard for a long time, and suddenly he was shocked.

He himself is very good at associative memory. He had a total of 36 classmates in high school. As long as he listens to the self-introduction once, he will never forget their respective personality traits and hobbies. But he had been thinking for a long time and couldn’t think of anything worth remembering about the boy sitting in the corner—not even one! If this boy isn’t some non-human creature, then his sense of existence is a little too low!

What kind of high-level breath-masking skill is this… Is he the phantom sixth man1 from the generation of miracles?!

As if hearing the fierce complaints in his heart, He Qin turned his head in doubt and asked, “What’s wrong?”

Wen Zheliu’s mouth twitched, and he asked in a low voice, “Brother, you…do you know the person sitting in the corner over there?”

At this time, the boy was still hanging his head in ignorance, taking a pen to write and draw something on the paper.

He Qin raised his eyes and said casually: “In the corner? How can there be a…”

Before the word “person” was finished, his pupils narrowed slightly.

After a long silence, he said slowly, “If the data is not modified, it proves that his own sense of existence is so low…”

“His name is Xie…what Xie, I only remember his surname as Xie!” Wen Zheliu pressed his temple in pain, feeling his memory was blank, as if someone had forcibly erased it, “This guy is really against the odd …If I hadn’t discovered him when I was counting people just now, we probably wouldn’t even know there was such a person when we cleared the level!”

On the other side, Mu Tuo asked politely, “What clues did you find?”

Ke Wenyan smiled, raised a paper bag in his hand, and said in a slightly complacent tone: “We have discovered the true origin of the monsters and their identities before death.”

Once this statement was made, the rest of the people were in high spirits and turned their heads to look at him. Wen Zheliu no longer cared about the existence of that odd buddy and wholeheartedly pricked up his ears.

The source and origin of the eyeless monster are also key to cracking the puzzle and restoring the truth. If their group really found out about this, wouldn’t it be a breeze to pass the level?

Now, even the Zhou siblings, who had been at odds with them, stopped talking and quietly waited for Ke Wenyan’s explanation.

At the first glance of everyone’s attention, Ke Wenyan was still very proud of himself, and after a pause, he spoke, “I think everyone has gone around the study on the first floor, right? Have you found a book with the town’s description?”

Since he wanted to keep the listeners in suspension, Wen Zheliu responded kindly: “Yes, I found it. There is a book detailing the strange things that happened in the town. It was mainly said that the guards in the town committed all kinds of crimes. Later, they were all killed. Even the bodies disappeared, and the majority of the people in the town disappeared. The town has been abandoned since then, and it is still unclear what happened.”

“That’s right, that’s the one.” Ke Wenyan nodded affirmatively, saying, “In addition to the story Marianne told us before, the origin of the monster must have a lot to do with what happened in the town!”

He Qin spun the charcoal pencil in his hand, drew a blank piece of paper to pad under his wrist, and said with a smile, “Please continue.”

“First, let’s focus on what those hooligans are doing.” Ke Wenyan said, “These ruffians seem to enjoy bullying women—especially the unmarried ones. They have committed two felonies: one against a religious believer and the other against the farmer’s daughter. ”

“Among them, the church’s believer didn’t have her life in danger, but the farmer’s daughter who went out to fetch water was tortured to death by them…” Ke Wenyan’s expression was a bit gloomy: “But after the incidents, this group of people is still at large, and they don’t feel any guilt for what they did! Under such circumstances, how can the townspeople not resent them?”

His tone was firm and provocative. When he finished speaking, Mu Tuo said, “You mean, the angry town residents united to avenge the two girls and kill the gangsters?”

“No, no,” Ke Wenyan shook his index finger, “This group of people are all guards, very powerful, and one of them is a relative of the sheriff. I think the common people in this era don’t have enough courage to fight against the ruling class, right? And don’t you forget that, besides those hooligans, many people died in the small town. If the townspeople were united, how could there be those extra dead people?”

“…What if the casualties were caused by the townspeople fighting with those hooligans?” Zhou Qing complained, “You also said that those hooligans are guards, how could the guards not have weapons?”

Wen Zheliu noticed that Ke Wenyan’s speech was still going on, but the pencil in He Qin’s hand, which wanted to take notes, was already hanging lower and lower. When he finished speaking, He Qin simply put down his pencil and pushed the white paper slowly forward a short distance.

He wanted to laugh, but in the end, he just coughed lightly.

A trace of unnaturalness flashed across Ke Wenyan’s face as he ignored Zhou Qing and continued, “—until we found this.”

He carefully pulled out a roll of parchment from his paper bag and passed it around to the people in the audience in turn.

After it reached He Qin’s hands, he and Wen Zheliu took a closer look only to see something that was evenly painted with a reddish-brown color. It’s unknown whether the composition of this paint was blood or not, but just looking at it made people feel as if something fishy was assailing their nostrils.

No one was able to tell what it was from one of the pieces, but when Wen Zheliu put two or three pieces together, he realized that it seemed to be the remnants of a huge circular formation, densely packed with words full of resentment and prayers looking forward to death.

Ke Wenyan sat down. Gao Xinghan then stood up and said, “I found these all in the attic on the third floor. I think there must be some hidden mystery in it.”

The Zhou siblings and Mu Tuo exchanged glances but quickly concealed their doubts under a calm expression.

“Oh.” He Qin lowered his eyes, which were filled with sharp but languid light. He pinched Wen Zheliu’s fingers under the table and stroked the smooth edges of the nails one by one. Wen Zheliu could tell that He Qin was already losing interest.

“What kind of mystery is that, can you tell us?”

Gao Xinghan couldn’t hear the irony in He Qin’s words; he said solemnly, “I think those eyeless monsters were the victim’s family.”

As soon as the conclusion came out, everyone fell silent.

Wen Zheliu pondered and seriously inquired, “What does this mean?”

“We have to realize that supernatural events are perfectly possible in this world, and since there are already eyeless monsters, why can’t there be real magic?” Gao Xinghan said eloquently, “So I’m going to make a conjecture for you all, and you can listen to see if what I’m saying makes sense.”

He said, “As Ke Wenyan said, people in this era don’t have the courage to resist the ruling class. Even if girls are raped and murdered, even if they are very angry, they don’t dare to confront the guards. The only ones who really wanted to kill those guards were the victim’s family…”

So they got these magic array-like things and turned themselves into… eyeless monsters?” Mu Tuo hesitated, “Is that what you mean?”

“Yes,” Gao Xing Han affirmed, “that’s what I mean. According to my speculation, the family of the victim gathered and found these magic formations in some way. They wrote all over them their wishes for revenge; maybe the magic backfired; maybe that was its original effect; in any case, they all turned into horrible but powerful monsters and took their revenge in their own way.”

Zhou Yao suddenly asked: “What about the innocent civilians who died in the small town? They had no enmity with the monsters. Why did the monsters kill them?”

Gao Xinghan’s expression was quite sarcastic, and he smiled: “Humans are inherently complex creatures. The dead townpeople aren’t the executioners who directly caused the girl’s tragedy, but in this closed and backward era, plus the victim-blaming mentality, I’m sure those people said a lot of things to the victim’s family when they were alive.”

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He looked around and saw the different thinking expressions on everyone’s faces and added: “Of course, I’m just offering a guess. If you have different opinions, you can tell me.”

He Qin tapped on the table and said slowly, “Mr. Gao’s speculation is not unreasonable, but I want to ask you a little bit.”

Gao Xinghan didn’t dare neglect this unfathomable man; he hurriedly said, “Please tell me.”

“Do you have any idea what role Marianne plays in this?” He Qin asked.

Gao Xinghan hesitated for a moment, and Wen Zheliu could tell that he was very cautious when answering this question: “I think she should exist as a recorder or a spectator.”

He Qin stared at the tip of the charcoal pencil with a half-smile and suddenly asked another irrelevant question.

“What kind of work does Mr. Gao do in real life?”

Seeing Gao Xinghan’s obvious bewilderment, He Qin said again: “I don’t mean anything else; I just see that you’re very organized in your words and actions. If you could return to the real world, would you consider going to work for N-Star Company?”

Only then did Gao Xinghan heave a sigh of relief and smile: “Ah, I’m sorry, because someone in my family already works in a branch of N-Star Company, and I quite like my current job, so…”

“It’s okay; don’t force it.” He Qin has an easy-going attitude, as if he were greeting an ordinary friend, “Seeing that Mr. Gao’s conversation is very refined, you must have a good family background and a bright future. By the way, has your family come here too? It’s really worrying.”

“…Huh?” Gao Xinghan was taken aback for a moment, as if he didn’t realize what He Qin asked.

He Qin was a little taken aback. He pointed to his wrist and said, “Wouldn’t N-Star Company give employees free access to Uncanny Valley? As a distinction, there will be a barcode on the wrist of the employee role. I am currently in an item state, so I don’t have it, and I don’t think you do either.

I think you should have used the admission qualification you’ve drawn. Is your family member… ”

Gao Xinghan suddenly realized: “So you meant this!”

Immediately, his brows and eyes lowered, and he sighed: “Yes, I’m really worried about my family, so I have always wanted to speed up and solve the puzzle. Maybe we can meet in the next world…”

He Qin looked at him steadily and said comfortingly, “I think there will definitely be such a day.”

He suddenly held Wen Zheliu’s palm under the table.

His fingers were as slender as plump bones, with well-defined joints, and the temperature of his skin was slightly cool. This made Wen Zheliu’s back suddenly stiff, but then he clearly wrote a word on Wen Zheliu’s palm.

“Mole”.

Is Gao Xinghan the mole? !

Wen Zheliu was startled, but his expression remained calm. During their conversation, Mu Tuo’s side sorted out the evidence they collected. Zhou Qing also stood up, holding a paper bag, but at this moment, He Qin suddenly raised his voice: “Wait a minute, Miss Zhou. ”

Zhou Qing looked at him puzzled and asked, “What’s wrong?”

“Before you speak, I’d like to ask you all, have you forgotten a teammate?” He Qin said lazily.

Wen Zheliu understands what He Qin wants to do. Since he has recognized at least one of the moles, Gao Xinghan, he won’t allow him to hear the evidence that other players had found—even if Zhou Qing’s team was also under suspicion of having a mole. Although directing everyone’s attention to the boy who had almost no sense of existence was a bit of a sell out teammate, he can’t care less.

The boy sitting in the corner looked up in a hurry at the crowd with his plain eyes and plain face. He seemed to know that He Qin was talking about himself, so he hurriedly raised his hand and said, in a plain voice that’d be immediately forgotten by others: “That… is it my turn?”

Everyone: “………….”

Zhou Qing said blankly, “Who’s talking?”

After a long time, she finally responded, “Who are you? Why is there an unknown person inside the team!”

Zhou Yao pushed his glasses, stared at him in disbelief for a long time, and finally murmured: “… This kid has the potential to be an assassin…”

Mu Tuo rubbed the back of his head and said doubtfully, “Yes, I also suddenly remembered that my room was supposed to have two people, but when I slept at night, I always felt that one was missing. So it was you?”

Bai Hao couldn’t help twisting his face and complaining: “Your sense of presence …… No, instead of saying it’s a sense of presence, it’s more apt to say it’s a sense of air ……”

Taking advantage of the fact that everyone’s attention was on this teammate who had been neglected all this time, He Qin led Wen Zheliu to stand up without changing his expression and walk towards the kitchen. When passing by Du Zijun, he cleverly flicked a paper ball on her skirt.

Du Zijun: “?”

She looked back just in time to see Wen Zheliu take the initiative to hold He Qin’s hand and draw an ambiguous circle on his palm.

Du Zijun’s face immediately distorted: “…”

Enough is enough! There is no end! What passive skill did I trigger that I must see two men showing affection whenever I turn my head?

But in fact, Wen Zheliu just imitated He Qin’s example earlier and drew a question mark on his palm.

Because he was really curious about how He Qin found out Gao Xinghan’s identity as a mole.

The two of them were already some distance away from the noisy crowd. He Qin no longer concealed it, but whispered in his ear: “I tricked him.”

“Is it when you ask him to work at N-Star?” Wen Zheliu’s mind was spinning rapidly.

“Mmm-hm.” He Qin nodded with a smile and said, “I said something completely contrary to the facts. To ensure fairness, the admission qualifications to the Uncanny Valley will not be given to employees for free. Of course, if they want to, they can also be purchased internally at a price three times cheaper than the market price. Moreover, under the unified channel, there will be no barcode identification on the wrists of employees at all.”

“So he’s lying. His family member does not work for N-Star Company…Maybe this family member of his was just made up.” Wen Zheliu frowned: “Why would he lie? It doesn’t make any sense at all.”

He Qin leisurely leaned against the kitchen counter, waiting for Du Zijun to come over, “Who knows? Whether it was a slip of the tongue or a complete rejection of my invitation, since he took the initiative to run into the gun muzzle, it was worth it to swindle this highly suspicious fellow with a small lie.”

While they were talking, Du Zijun had already walked into the kitchen. Although she couldn’t get used to the gay atmosphere between the two of them, she still felt that He Qin wouldn’t look for her because of trivial matters.

“What’s the matter?” She held a cigarette and habitually stood with her legs crossed. Wen Zheliu always felt that her posture was manlier than a few men combined.

“We don’t have much time, so I’d better be straightforward with you,” He Qin hooked his lips and spat out three words calmly, “Mr. Du.”

Du Zijun’s impatient expression suddenly froze on her face, her eyelashes trembled, and the gaze she stared at He Qin was like staring at a living ghost.

“You…!” She gritted her teeth and let out a word, then hastily lowered her voice, “How did you find out!”

When Wen Zheliu heard Miss Du’s almost acknowledging questioning, his inner solid and firm three world views seemed to fall to the ground, emitting a crisp shattering sound…

She was… really a man! !

Hua: Du Zijun is a man ! ! (⊙_⊙)？

1

Kuroko no Basuke reference. Tetsuya Kuroko is the main protagonist of the manga Kuroko no Basuke. He was the Phantom Sixth Player of the Generation of Miracles at Teikō Junior High who specialized in misdirection and passes.

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